郑和下西洋

郑和（我也姓郑 =P），中国人（alamak =.=）1371 年出生于雲南昆陽（今晉寧昆阳镇），原姓马，小名三宝。

郑和下西洋的故事相信大家都听多了。
郑和乃中國独步古今最伟大的航海家、外交家、和宦官。



鄭和出生於明洪武四年(1371年)，是馬哈只第二子。洪武十三年1381年冬，明朝軍隊進攻雲南，当年马三宝10岁，被擄入明營而閹割成太監，之後進入朱棣的燕王府。
郑和有智略，知兵习战，过后的明成祖对郑和十分信赖。

1405年7月11日（明永樂三年）明成祖命郑和率領龐大的240海船、27400名船员组成的船隊遠航（每艘船大约500人），訪問了30多個在西太平洋和印度洋的國家和地區，加深了中國同東南亞、東非的相互了解。他一共遠航了有七次之多。



郑和在探访其他国家的同时也扩大中国当时的势力，将中国出产的布料和茶叶送给他们。而中国也因此得到其他国家的进贡；斑马，长颈鹿，鸵鸟，象牙等等。


长颈鹿

Zheng He, as mentioned above, was leading an army of 27400, and that number generally awed most would-be enemies into submission. There was one program on Discovery Channel that showed a scene in which Zheng He's fleet emerges from the mist.. and that was so awesome; the whole sea was covered by ships of different sizes and you couldn't see the horizon.

But as an admiral, he did not shrink from violence when he considered it necessary to impress foreign peoples with China's military might. He ruthlessly suppressed pirates who had long plagued Chinese and southeast Asian waters and waged a land war against the Kingdom of Kotte in Ceylon(modern day Sri Lanka, and the King Alagakkonara of Ceylon later came to China as a captive to apologize to the Emperor.), and he made displays of military force when local officials threatened his fleet in Arabia and East Africa. Such was the power and influence of China during that era... why are they producing vast amount of pirated products in this modern age? =.=



Zheng He died during the treasure fleet's last voyage. Although he has a tomb in China, it is empty: he was, like many great admirals, buried at sea.

Alright, history aside, now the facts;
Zheng He was a Muslim. His Arabic name was Hajji Mahmud Sham (马三宝). He was a eunuch, he lost his balls to the emperor and thus he had no descendants (pity pity....). One particular topic that has brought much debate is the size of his fleet, and the size of his ships.

Zheng He was the first man to sail half way across the world, he was half a century earlier (1405) than the first European navigator, Christopher Colombus(1492).


Christopher Colombus

He used compass and astronomical knowledge to guide the ships across the vast barren sea. (In fact Chinese navigation compass was invented in 1117, and it appeared in Europe in 1190)


Compass used by Zheng He


European compass


Oldest form of compass invented by the Chinese

There are seven types of ship in the fleet, each with its own purpose. The largest being the treasure ship, used by the commander of the fleet and his deputies. The ship was so huge you could place a football field on the ship~ just imagine a ship the size of our Bukit Jalil Stadium! The ship is around 126.73 meters long, 51.84 meters wide, and a football field is 100 x 50 meter in size. =.= Other ships are smaller in size and some carry food, one month supply of fresh water, horses, weapon, etc..


Zheng He's ship compared to the one used by Christopher Colombus

Christopher Columbus's ship?? well... it's only 1/10 of Zheng He's ship.. it's only 17 meters long wuahahahaha XDDDDD why am I so bad? =P


Zheng He's ship and Vasco Da Gama's ship.

Ok, the above stuff is not that fresh anymore, we could see all those in discovery or sorts, what's fresh is that; someone has proposed that the European Renaissance (5th Century to 15th Century was the Dark Ages... 10 centuries of dumbness) was ignited by the Chinese~~~~ interesting??

It was proposed that the Chinese were advanced in knowledge of all sorts, they brought books together with them as they sailed half across the globe, and as they anchored from place to place they gave the books away as gifts... and so the Renaissance... WOW!!! I was so surprised when I saw the book.



1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance


I guess now we all know that Zheng He was so influential that to this day we owe him much. Without renaissance then we're still living under the influence of the Catholic Church today... but too bad, he lost his crotch and has got no baby boy to pass down his superior leadership gene... Too bad for a man of his stature.. and the perverted King Henry VIII has got six wives =.= but he did not get a male heir neither~~~ =P


King Henry VIII and his six wives






Malcolm